"Excuse me, sorry!"

The rat wriggled out of the crowd of students, almost getting squashed by an overloaded backpack. As soon as he was free, he resumed his sprint through the hall. He was hoping some magical force would hold back the ticking hands of time, like Lord Valkyrat's ultimate attack. He swore under his fast-paced breath as he took a corridor on the right. A goth finch and a neat and tidy sow were busy chatting about philosophy when the bird spotted the 20-something white rat in jeans and gray hoodie suddenly burst past the corner ; she stopped her friend in a jolt as the small rodent almost hit them and slid onto the floor.

"Watch out, man!"

"Sorry!"

The rat grabbed his dangling shoulder bag, careful not to get his sleeve caught in the rainbow flag pin on it, and scurried along as the two girls shook their heads and chuckled.

The bell rang as the remaining students entered the classroom. The rat appeared at the end of the corridor, huffing and puffing on his way to the door. As he turned and stepped in, a stout walrus man in a checkered wool sweater standing by the entrance greeted him with a little nod.

"Hello, welcome. Just on time, good, good."

"Hello, Mister Walters" the rodent replied between two pants with a polite smile.

"Please, take a seat."

The rat turned his head to the class, looking for a spot...

He immediately saw him.

That huge, dark-colored reptile, built like a brick shithouse. He stood out among the rest like an elephant in the room. The rodent's heart skipped a beat. It was... It was him.

The masculine, anthropomorphic dragon-lizard creature guffawed out loud, his rectangular head sporting the toothy maw of a scaly theropod. From his forehead sprouted two thick scaly eyebrows going past his skull and acting like horns. Between them, a black cap was firmly stuck backwards. His impressively built body was covered with gray scales, lighter over his thick chin and underbelly. A white T-shirt stretched over his bulging pecs and his stout gut. On top, the hulking beast wore one of the university's blue and white letterman jackets that looked like at least a 3XL, the leather sleeves doing little to hide his mighty shoulders and impressive arms. The apparel sported a big, bold yellow "K" on the left side.

The dragon-lizard dude dropped his gym bag on the floor, grabbed the backrest of a two-person bench with one of his large, scaly hands, dragged it behind him with stunning ease, and sat down with a heavy thud, his large build filling the entire space. He continued cracking some jokes with a lion classmate who sat nearby. The feline wore the same varsity jacket as him and, despite sporting a bulky build, looked almost frail in comparison to this monster of a dude. The big reptile's voice was deep and guttural, which reminded the rat of the fire-breathing eastern dragons from his home neighborhood, and as he laughed, his large, black-dotted throat covered with a flabby-looking skin looked like it puffed out a bit, like some iguana's dewlap.

The rat's heartbeat hadn't slowed down. In a quick scan of the room around the scaly beast, he saw all the nearby seats were taken by other blue-jacket jocks. He spotted a free table... right behind him. The rodent clenched a fist and went straight toward it as everyone else settled in. With every step closer to the big reptile beast, he became more and more impressive. Parker avoided glancing at him. Meeting the saurian's intimidating gaze, whose piercing eyes sported two tiny, orange irises nested in black sclera, could make him pick up another seat before he knew it. This giant looked like he was out of this world, straight from some tabletop role-playing game where the authors would have gone crazy with a barbarian, dinosaur-ish race. The rat could swear he had never seen such a creature- at least not before the welcome meeting a few days ago, where he had spotted him at the other end of the courtyard, standing among the rest of the bashball team like a mountain in the middle of a jungle. As the rat passed by the reptile, he took a deep breath. A faint, fresh scent of cedar and blackberry deodorant tingled his nose.

The rodent eventually reached the targeted spot. He took his laptop out, dropped his bag on the floor, sat down, and... realized he couldn't see much past the reptilian hunk. That beast was so tall that everything straight ahead was blocked from view. The small rat huffed- the view in front of him was even better than expected.

For as tall and burly the saurian was, he had a bottom just as large and round. They could be sitting on benches of the same height, but the beast's proportions made it so that past his laptop, the rodent could fully see his front neighbor's massive butt resting on the wooden bench, making the seat bend under its weight. Under the pointy stub of a short tail, the big saurian dude wore a pair of stretchy, worn-out jeans whose middle sew line outlined his glutes like two plump chunks of dense meat, each covered by a lucky back pocket. Its waistband had slid down a few inches over the top of his buttocks, and unveiled a pair of white boxer briefs holding back the colossus's sheer amount of rump. The elastic waistband, which sported the "REX" brand logo in bold, dug tenderly into the beast's voluptuous, scaly girth.

The feeling of his manhood pressing against his pants' zipper brought the rodent back to reality. He blinked away the sparkles in his eyes, stealthily budged the growing erection to the side of his pants, leaned back against his backrest. He inhaled and exhaled sharply, and opened a new tab to take notes. As the teacher started roll call, the rodent perked his ears and raised his gaze beyond his laptop screen. Not without glancing once more at the glorious tush, he looked up at the colossal beast's back. Between his broad shoulders, he read cross his varsity jacket's back, in bold letters:

DRACONID

PRIDE

"Parker Wu?"

A small pink hand poked from behind the giant reptile jock. "I'm here!"

The walrus sighed, and continued the list. Parker's attention tripled: for the next minute, he listened attentively to each and every name, trying to spot the slightest movement from the big hunk in front of him. The carefree beefcake was sitting casually, his legs spread apart, hands resting on his trunk-like thighs, and glanced at his lion sidekick across the aisle as if he was about to make a joke at any moment.

"...Kothu Silverscale?"

Finally, the dragon-lizard dude raised a hand. "Yeah."

Parker immediately typed the name down in his note tab as relief came over him. That was it. His name. "So cool", he thought. Sounded like one of those Dinosaurox war leaders, calling metal dragons into battle when they lose half of their units. The rodent's eyes wandered up again, beyond his screen... This semester's literature class would be a treat.

The course went by peacefully. Forty-five minutes of Shakespeare commentary passed, only interrupted by a few giggles from the blue jackets, who seemed to be the boisterous group around. Parker didn't mind; smiling at their dumb puns, pushing through lingering shyness, he felt warm and fuzzy, being surrounded by these loudmouthed guys.

At some point, the towering draconid in front of him straightened his back, making his bench creak under his weight. He stuck his butt out, pushing his plump cheeks backwards, in the opening between the backrest and the seat. Parker's curious eyes opened wide. The reptile raised his tail...

*BRRORORrbrorrbpront!*

...and abruptly, shamelessly farted. A colossal amount of gas blew past his clenched mounds of flesh and worn-out jeans with a mighty force, unleashing a deep, gross vibration against the wooden bench. The revolting sound froze the rodent in his seat. A dreadful silence took over the room, before being broken by a wave of laughter and applause from the blue jacket boys.

"Woohoo!"

"That's our boy!"

Parker turned his head and looked away from the epicenter of the burst and joined in the general amusement, chuckling and shaking his head. But the next second, the rat was engulfed in a nasty cloud of stench, a powerful, tepid funk invading the hazardous area behind the draconid. Parker could feel a blush rushing to his face, reddening his pink ears and snout, now feeling guilty for having stared at this dude's butt for so long. On the total opposite of the shame spectrum, the reptilian beast responsible for unleashing such a bomb was smirking, unabashed. From under his backward cap, Kothu raised a cheeky eyebrow-horn to the classmate who congratulated him. Mister Walters, unperturbed, tried to resume his class.

"Calm down, everyone. That sort of thing happens."

"Sorry sir," the draconid apologized, "I usually manage to keep them silent."

More laughter followed, keeping a smile on the reptile's square snout.

"You're exempted from sharing your personal tips regarding your flatulence management, Mister Silverscale."

"You sure? I'd make a great teacher."

"That'll be enough."

Feeling the warmth of his own brand tickling his square snout, the towering, smug hunk passed an arm over his backrest and, in a playful attempt to waft the stench away, waved his big, scaly hand behind his fuming bottom. In doing so, his piercing orange eyes peeked over his large shoulder, down at the blushing rat. He smirked with his deep, low voice.

"That's why people usually avoid being behind me."

Parker went from red to crimson. As the draconid's gesture waved more stench into his direction, the rodent frowned, recoiled, and, unable to reply but wanting to show he wasn't put off by the beefcake's crude humor, tried to laugh it off. He almost coughed in front of such a potent, careless attitude.

"...I'll keep that in mind."

At the nearby tables, laughter shifted to noisy groans as the stench of the reptile's flatulence spread and reached other rows. Kothu's boisterous teammates, catching a whiff of their leader's fart, complained out loud, some bantering with their team captain, some waving the fumes away in an exaggerated manner.

"Phew! Jeez, man!"

"Still alive, Parker?"

"Can we at least open a window, Sir?"

Mister Walters frowned. "The next person commenting on Mister Silverscale's gas will be dismissed."

The teacher's strict tone turned cackles into chuckles and, soon enough, amused silence. Even if some were still whispering when Mister Walters resumed his analysis of The Tempest, the incident was over... except for Parker. Sitting there, in the lingering fumes, he stared at his screen. Words weren't making any sense anymore, harpies and goblins suddenly being swept away by images of a dragon's wind, before crushing back into the present, where the sheer presence of the beast in front of him meant everything.

Thirty minutes later, the old school bell ringing came as both a shock and a relief, finally breaking Parker's infernal loop of confused thoughts, edacious glances at his neighbor's butt, and remorse from his guilty academic conscience. As the English teacher was instructing them to finish the play before next class, Parker heard Kothu grumble a "finally", saw him free his bench from his weight, get up, pull his trousers back up against his round tush, and stomp his way to the exit, quickly joined by his sports crew. The rodent closed his laptop, slipped it in his shoulder bag, and got up in an instant. He dashed outside with a rushed "Bye!" and, as he was about to look for the giant wearing a varsity jacket, he gasped. The rat got his smartphone out, tapped on the Kraterbridge University app, opened his agenda and checked today's page. Staring at his screen, he swore under his breath. Programming class in ten minutes, Miss Hunter-Ranson, Room D123. In the science building... He stopped and looked in the draconid's direction, beyond that sea of busy, colorful people. Upset, he slipped his smartphone back into his pocket, and turned around.

***

Parker was among the first students to arrive in room D123. The white rat gave a polite "hello" to the female raptor in a bright pink blouse welcoming him with a kind smile. He walked up to a free desk and sat down, thinking about how it wasn't behind a huge dragon-lizard dude. He turned his laptop back on, and stared at nothing, lost in thought.

At some point, a fit rottweiler dude with another damn backward cap and a labrador girl sat in front of him. The labrador girl laughed at some cheesy-ass compliment, and kissed the dog on the cheek. The dude grinned and wagged his tail, drawing Parker's gaze to his butt clad in a pair of gray sweatpants. Muscular, pretty good-looking, but definitely not like... The rat blinked and focused back on his laptop's screen.

More students came in and took their seats. Mrs. Hunter-Ranson eventually closed the door, and started roll call. Waiting for his name, Parker looked around the class; in the third row, he spotted a gray wolf dude, wearing the iconic bashball team varsity jacket. The rat went back to his laptop, and searched their university intranet page for "bashball". He got hundreds of results, including news articles on the "Fangs" latest exploits, their victory at last spring's regional tournament, and social media posts with pictures of the team. On many pictures he could see the hulking draconid dude running, tackling, or cheering with the rest of the team.

"Parker Wu?"

"Here!"

Parker clicked on the name tag assigned to the draconid's large frame in the picture, leading him to his Lookbook profile. In his profile picture, Kothu wore his varsity jacket, a brown backward cap, and that same cheeky smile. His bio read:

Kraterbridge Fangs bashball team captain. Proud draconid. Warned ya. :muscle-emoji: :tyrannosaur-emoji: :rainbow-flag-emoji:

Parker's eyes opened wide. He had to look at it several times to make sure it wasn't his contact lenses tricking him. But no. It was a rainbow flag.

The rat's heart beat increased. He scrolled down. All he found was about sports, exercising at the school's gym, hanging out with the bashball team... Brief, smiley-heavy comments sometimes popped up. His eyes passed over a post by the university's student union.

New semester, new openings! Join the State's best bashball team! Recruitment is open until September 13.

Kothu had shared the invitation and added some text.

If you ever wanna rub shoulders with a draconid AND be part of a team of champions, this is your chance :tyrannosaur-emoji: :muscle-emoji: :bashball-emoji: :trophy-emoji:

Parker opened a new tab, typed "draconid", and browsed the results. He clicked on the Ministry of DEI's official species page and skimmed through the first paragraph.

Ancient reptilian species... very adaptable bodies... thick skin... acute thermoreceptors... believed alien... near extinct...

Parker glanced at Mrs Hunter-Ranson, who was showing a new slide to the class. At that moment, a bit of guilt started to gnaw at him. Not only was he neglecting yet another course, but he was... stalking. Again. He sighed and bookmarked the page for later. Still, under the table, one of his legs bounced from excitement.

***

Parker climbed the stairs of the student's residence building with haste. He jogged through the hallway and opened his room with his key card. He found the living room empty and his roommate's door closed. The rat dashed to his bedroom, locked the door behind him, threw his shoulder bag on the floor, grabbed a towel, threw it over this bed, and jumped on it, laying on his stomach. He snatched his pillow and stared straight at it: now, he could mentally focus on the divine vision of ass that imprinted in his mind ever since he sat behind him. After a whole day of dreaming, he was so happy to finally plunge right into it and indulge himself. The rat did a bit of visualization, and hungrily stuffed his face into his pillow. He moaned, grabbing his cushion by the sides and massaging it in a lustful grip. For the next minute, he let his imagination run wild.

...Suddenly, from between the beast's crevasse, a burst. How would he...? "Oof, that felt great," something assertive like that, before reassuring that hunk with chuckles. "It's.. alright...". Contemplating this giant's round, rumbling butt, carelessly blasting waves of relief onto the face. That hunk would grunt and sigh, "guess that's the price to pay for being back there" or, what did he say? "That's why people usually avoid sticking their faces back there." Breathing intensifies. Coughing a bit, imagining how intense his lack of restraint would be to endure, or just to flatter him. Getting closer and closer... "It's all good, dude... I can take it..." Inebriated by him, lunging inside, "you don't have to hold back... You can let it all out if you need to..." -wow, daring- and the big smug captain would go "oh fuck, brace yourself dude" and unleash a blaring point blank tempest of jock gas from his mighty rump onto that powerless face, his gigantic asscheeks vibrating, squeezing and breathing and moaning into his-

In an unbridled, energetic hump against his mattress, the rodent climaxed. Face stuffed deep into his pillow, a rush of intense pleasure overcame him, and the rat's hips thrusted into his towel back and forth, once, twice, four, seven times...

It took Parker some time to rise from his improvised butt prop. As he emerged back into reality, he noticed a saliva stain on the cover. The rodent swiped it off, sat on the edge of his bed, and looked down at his slowly decreasing penis and the sticky mess smeared against the side of his hip.

Did he... Did he cum to... that? Well, it was far from being his first orgasm followed by a weird sense of self-realization. Over the past years, he had fully embraced his love for masculine bottoms. He was absolutely fine with that. No, today, it was... It was still a glorious, superb tush that he came to, but the... the crude thing was a... kinda new one. He would dream of submitting to bottoms, and this... strangely fit into his fantasy's flow. He never minded... dudes dropping bombs, but now, it felt like... Like it sounded right to him, like a thing that would... go quite well. Like a new kind of cherry atop a well-tried cake. He felt a blush overcoming his cheeks, a rush of self-questioning that made him frown and look back at his squashed pillow. That was... Kinda dirty, he thought. In real life, it smelled so bad, and the sound was so gross... But the carelessness of this dude... The power emanating from him, and the others complaining... He sold it so well.

Parker shook his head and sighed. He put his pillow back in place, turning it on the clean side, grabbed his towel, and got up to clean himself in the bathroom. When he came back, he stretched, scratched his head, and looked at his pillow again.

He had sworn to himself that this would be the year where he'd dare to do stuff... Like hanging out with some dudes, asking about what they like. All the work he did, and all this support from his therapist... He was on a great track. And he would not miss a single opportunity.

He stood there for a moment. Eventually, he grabbed his shoulder bag, went to his desk, pushed a few Warmighter figurines and paint pots away, and got his laptop out. He still had homework to do. And this bashball team to reach out to.

***

Finally, the sound of the whistle. On this sunny, late Friday afternoon, all the white and blue-clad players in Kraterbridge Stadium slowed down.

"Time out, boys! Get back here."

Among them, in an outfit slightly too big for his small size, Parker huffed and puffed. His forehead dripped with sweat, wetting his white fur, and he felt dizzy, with a light note of queasiness. He might have overdone it. Trying to catch his breath, the rat looked around, his eyes darting in all directions, until he found their team's captain.

The number 74 stood there, a dozen yards away, shining like a silver and onyx colossus under the sun's golden rays. As the two teams regrouped towards the field's exit, the synthetic fabric of his tight blue and white top outlined every contour of his musclegut body. The bulky reptile's padded shorts increased his already mighty thighs' size to a monstrous level, and the blue polyester seizing his massive rear offered a view that never got old, even after staring at it so many times during the game. After not seeing him anywhere in the university yesterday, Parker wouldn't miss a second of him... and his curves. Man, the linebackers were so lucky.

The fifteen players got closer to Mister Norm, their grizzly bear coach. The big ursine's eyes were lost in brown, bushy eyebrows under the visor of his blue and white cap, sporting the school's "K".

"I won't be too long, promise. Jake, you left the aisle defenseless. Pete, you did great on that last shot, we want more of that for the real match, yeah? Kothu, well, I feel like you've been holding back."

The draconid smiled. "Don't wanna make the rookies fly, coach."

"Well, that's their problem. You're the nose tackle, so I wanna see more tackles. Great defensive positions though. Ripley, gotta work a bit more on that pass. Duke, looking good, though you seemed out in the last minutes. Parker, good speed. But we gotta work on your stamina. You seem like you're about to collapse, you're alright?"

"Yeah, don't worry... I just... It's been a while since I ran."

"Well, you gotta get used to it around here."

A few snickered, but the rat got the wit to reply. "Damn, I thought those dev sprints would have helped."

Some teammates chuckled at his joke. The rodent smiled, a little proud. He glanced at Kothu, who was whispering something to Pete, the lion from literature class. The feline glanced at the rat and snorted. As for Mister Norm, he needed some time to get it.

"...Funny. Pedro, you seem like you found your footing quite fast. Bashball seems to be made for you, boy. Elijah, we'll try to put you at another spot next time, alright? Welcome to the team again, you three, hope you enjoy it," the bear said while glancing at Parker, Pedro and Elijah, "and if not, well, we won't hold ya back. The rest, great work. I'm proud of you. See ya next week."

The chatting and banter from the Kraterbridge bashball team disturbed the place's silence. Echoing across the stadium's corridors, the chatter got closer to the locker room, until a dull hit on its door swung it open, the sound of voices suddenly filling the room. Pete the lion and Duke the brawny bull were the first two to enter.

"-because I swear to god if they disqualify us for that..."

"We just have a better defense! Their loss."

Kothu followed them, then Jake, a fit stallion, with Leo, the cute gray wolf Parker had spotted in programming class. The rat was making sure to follow their team captain from not too far, and entered after the wolf, followed by the rest of the team. The players got to their lockers, opened their metallic doors, and started to undress. Parker took his time, trying to keep an eye on the bulky reptile. Kothu first dragged his "74" top off his impressive back, letting his sweaty belly and chest air out. Contrary to the other players, he wasn't wearing any shoulder pads: the same pitch black scale plates covering his hands and forearms also protected his bare shoulders, shoulder blades, and spine, looking like tough, natural armor. The bulky reptile threw his sweat-soaked top over the wooden bench in the middle of the locker room, soon joined by other clothes from other teammates. He opened his locker to take out his sports bag and a white towel. He swiped his glistening body with the cloth, focusing on his chest and armpits, before throwing it over his shoulder. The beast took out a deodorant bottle, raised his thick arms and sprayed his scaly armpits; Parker took a deep breath and smelled the fresh, powerful cedar scent that reminded him of that time in literature class.

The hulking saurian dude passed his thumbs under his blue bashball shorts' waistband, bent over and dragged them down, sticking out and uncovering his massive bum, clad with black compression shorts. He passed his large, theropodian feet through the sports garment and threw them into the growing pile of sports clothing on the central bench. The mighty draconid was now standing almost nude, his thighs compressed and colossal glutes held tight by his black underwear's stretchy fabric.

The rodent's attention was so on edge, he realized he was putting his pants over his own shorts. He shook his head and tried to focus on his own undressing. While Parker removed his outfit, he missed the view of Kothu grabbing back his towel, passing it past his shorts's waistband and over his crotch in a swift movement, before slipping it around the side and swiping it up his sweaty crack for a hot second. The bulky reptile then rolled his towel in a careless ball and threw it in his locker. No one seemed to care, and the most experienced jocks of the team were still talking game strategy.

"I dunno man, I don't wanna send someone to the hospital."

"It's bashball. If they can't take a tackle..."

"And it's not like the Horns. Their rhino almost impaled a dude once."

"Guys, the coach told us to go all out. We gotta give everything we got this year. Finals or nothing."

Suddenly, the scaly colossus leaned on the side and hiked a leg up.

*PRFFRORBRFropbntrffrpt!*

A deep, bassy roll of windy thunder rumbled out of the draconid's butt. Parker jolted and turned his head in a blink, catching for a brief moment the view of a monstrous fart bursting through his tight black shorts and swelling the buttcrack fold with foul air. Kothu's closest teammates groaned out loud and stepped away from the flatulent beast with amused reactions ranging from disgusted praise to exaggerated revulsion.

"Woohoohoo!"

"Urghhh, man!"

"Nice one!"

"You're fucking gross, dude!"

The team captain grinned as his stink spread behind and around him. "Come on guys, I thought we shouldn't hold back?"

"Ugh, you can hold that back!" the lion jokingly complained.

The jock feline wafted the stink away with his sweaty shirt, before throwing it on the bench like the others and spraying deodorant around the polluted area. Duke and a few other guys snickered out loud, getting a whiff of the potent, rotten stench creeping over the locker room. The bull wafted a hand in front of his face.

"Fuck, you're a real nuclear bomb, man."

"Yeah!" insisted Pete, who turned to the gray wolf, who was gathering everyone's sweat-soaked uniforms from the bench. "Leo, my man, I pity you sometimes. You must be going through a lot."

The gray wolf snorted out of embarrassment as he carried the pile of bashball uniforms out of the locker room for cleaning. Parker chuckled, joining in the crowd's amusement, and glanced back at the draconid.

That's when he met his gaze.

The colossal reptile, turned to the side as he drank from a black two-liter flask, had his tiny eyes set on the rodent. Sparking with a warm, orange glow.

Parker immediately turned around. He grabbed his towel to shove it in his bag, looked around on the bench for his clothes before realizing they were still in his bag, took back his towel, and took out his shirt. He felt his facial extremities get warmer and warmer as he clenched his teeth. His manhood was already growing, but was thankfully held captive by his protective cup-

A deep voice came from behind him.

"Hey, Parker?"

As he turned around, ready to joke about the beast's outburst, the rat found himself face-to-butt with the towering draconid, in the shadow of his enormous backside. In a heartbeat, the giant's scaly hand swooped down on the rat's small head like a dragon upon his prey, and thrust him into his buttcrack. Parker's world got dark as he felt a herculean power push his face against a black, fleshy mass of hot, humid elastane, squashing his snout between two giant, meaty globes. His breath taken away by the strong, salty smell of sweat and a heavy, musky body odor overpowering the weak, artificial cedar scent that had no power down there, the rat gasped and instinctively recoiled before realizing with awe that the firm grasp seizing his head wouldn't let go. A voice resonated from above, deep within the saurian.

"Hold this one for me, will ya?"

With a strong push, the giant hunk crammed the rodent's snout further between his massive buttcheeks, winced, and unleashed a bomb.

*BNRBRRNPRNRNFFRPRNFPFHH...*

An explosive fart erupted from the beast's rump for many terrible, lengthy seconds, its low, sputtering sound dampened by the rodent's face wedged at the source. Inside the locker room, stupefaction and embarrassment took over half of the team, while the most loudmouthed jocks burst with laughter.

"Owww, damn!!"

"Yeeaaaah, dude! That's our nose tackler!"

"Ewwww, Parker, nooo haha!"

The teasing barely reached Parker's ears. An atrocious earthquake of stench obliterated his face and a hot, decaying, sulfuric funk overwhelmed his senses as the draconid's unmovable grasp flattened his facial features against the plump, vibrating buttocks. In the heat of the moment, the last remnant of shame was pummeled flat by a hurricane of lust and pleasure- the rodent's heartbeat skyrocketed and his phallus pushed hard against his cup. When his awful, drawn out fart came to an end, Kothu sighed out of relief and smirked proudly at his teammates' disgusted comments. The scaly, gassy giant decided to push the tease even further by jiggling his doughy asscheeks and grinding the rat face against his fuming buttcrack, rubbing in the stench and choking him on ass mass, making Parker's guilty torment deliciously worse. More people laughed, blushed, or looked away from this display, as muffled moans and coughs came from the team captain's rump.

"What the fuck, man?!"

Leo's voice rang out in the locker room.

Upon discovering this... show, his blood boiled in an instant. Even Parker heard it, despite being still held by the draconid's grip and stuffed into his butt. The reptile replied casually.

"What's up?"

"The fuck're you doing to him?!"

At last, Kothu released Parker. The rat's instinct took over: he stepped back, the cold light of reality embracing him. He saw that mighty bottom move aside, and he fell down to the ground, his back hitting the locker behind him with a clang. Out of breath and dazed by what had just happened, he huffed. The discussion that ensued felt like a weird dream to him.

"He's fine," Kothu retorted, "calm down."

"Oh so bullying the new guys is fine now?!"

The big draconid shrugged, keeping a surprisingly composed attitude. "He was staring. I had to fart. Pete was making a fuss about it. Made everyone happy. Right, man?"

The rodent couldn't say a thing. He was staring in front of him, huffing, his face moist with butt sweat, a rancid taste stuck in his sinuses. He barely managed to nod. The wolf couldn't stand it.

"He's fucking new man, you think he'll talk back to the captain?!"

"Leo, calm the fuck down. I know what I'm doing."

"You can't tell me to 'calm the fuck down' after what just happened! You don't do that to people, man!"

"You don't know what you're talking about. He's fine. Guy's rocking a serious boner right now."

Parker didn't react. A few students looked at each other as the palpable discomfort climbed to a new level. Leo didn't quit.

"So what, you're guessing just because you can feel body heat or some shit?"

"Pretty much."

Duke stepped in.

"Guys, it's alright, it was just a joke..."

"Just a joke?!" Leo shouted. "Fucking idiots, I don't think you know what you're doing. And you gotta stop doing that, Kothu."

The draconid frowned. "Hey man, don't act like I wasn't doing you a favor either."

"Excuse me?"

"You think you can hide everytime I destroy the bathroom?"

Leo froze. He remained speechless, his eyes throwing daggers at his roommate. He clenched his teeth so hard his contracting jaw was visible. His team captain shrugged.

"Yeah, maybe don't stand behind the door next time."

The wolf's body tensed, and a shiver ran along his spine. His eyes suddenly swelled with tears. He clenched his fists and, with a voice stifled with shame, snarled at the hulking reptile.

"...F-Fuck you. Fuck. You."

Under everyone else's awkward gaze, the wolf turned around, bashed open the locker room door, and walked away. A second later, Jake sighed, grabbed Leo's stuff, and went after him.

No one dared say a word. For a moment, silence came back to Kraterbridge Stadium.

***

The sun was setting over Kraterbridge University. A warm, orange light bathed the whole campus and its central park. At this time of the day on a Friday, only the students living on campus could be found, most of them in their residence buildings. In one of the trees, perched on a branch, two feral nightingales twittered. Below them, the black-wearing finch was laying her head on the graceful sow's lap. They were chatting and chuckling together, showing each others' phones and social media threads.

Nearby, inside the nearby Abrams building, in the middle of a long corridor, Parker was sitting on a chair. Staring at nothing, his hands clasped together, his left leg was bouncing up and down. On a nearby wooden door, golden letters read "DEAN'S OFFICE".

Eventually, the door opened. A mountain of black scales and muscles came out, hunched over to not hit the top of the doorway, his width barely fitting through. The rat looked up and smiled at him.

"Hey!"

The draconid raised an eyebrow-horn. "You're here?"

"Well, I saw you coming right after they were done with me, so, I thought..."

Kothu grunted. "Hrmpf, whatever."

The large reptile cut the discussion short and walked away. Surprised at first, Parker got up and walked up to Kothu. He had to speed up to keep up with the draconid's big steps.

"So, uhm... You alright?"

"Leave me alone."

The cold tone sounded even more menacing with the dude's deep voice. Parker didn't want to let go, though.

"I, erm... I spoke out for you."

"Congrats. Want a medal?"

Parker frowned again. "Dude, after what happened today, I just-"

"I don't wanna talk about it."

Kothu kicked the building's main door open and left. Parker felt frustration build up. He was hitting a brick wall. For a second, he gave up, and let the wooden panel close between them. The second after, he dared to push through. On an impulse, he went after him, his heart thumping in his chest.

In the park, the two girls saw the bashball team captain walk down the stairs, a stern expression below his backward cap, and a small white rat catching up with him. They both seemed concerned but from this distance, the girls couldn't hear a word.

"You can't just walk out of it!" Parker insisted. "Not after... what you did! In front of the whole team!"

The draconid kept on walking. "They're good guys. We often joke around."

"So what, you do that on everyone on their first day?"

Kothu raised an eyebrow and glanced behind him, down at the rat. "Why? Would you be jealous?"

Parker sighed out of embarrassment, trying to not look away as he caught up with the hunk. "Man, you... You can't just... Out people like that!"

"Isn't it what you wanted, though?"

"Who cares about what we want?!"

"I mean..." The draconid shrugged, and he turned his gaze away from the rodent. "I do."

His blunt reply left Parker speechless. He thought about jumping at his large, flabby throat- to strangle him or to kiss him; he couldn't decide. He kept on walking beside him, shaking his head as he watched wind blowing through the leaves of a nearby tree. Eventually, he sighed. His lingering fluster and built-up anger flew away with the late summer breeze.

"Man... I don't know what to tell you. It's just... Not the right way to do it."

"Yeah. Figures."

For a short moment, they walked together in silence. Kothu looked at the student residence building, whose front was lit up by the fiery flare of the sunset.

"Sorry," he said. "Should have asked."

Parker didn't reply. He didn't feel like he had to. He was looking down at the paved path in front of them. A few dead leaves crunched under his feet. He spoke out again.

"Did you get a penalty or something?"

"Nah. Just a warning."

The rat looked up at the beast's square snout beside him. "What about Leo?"

"He asked to move me to a new room. Can't blame him." The draconid paused. "Not sure if that will be enough for him, though."

Far away, carried by the winds from downtown, the honk of cars reached them. Kothu spoke out again, without looking at Parker.

"By the way, if you're looking for a new room..."

The rat almost choked. "Are you fucking kidding?!"

"Hm?"

"Your previous roommate gets you in the dean's office for bullying us, and now you're asking me to share your room?!"

Kothu shrugged. "I can always ask Duke."

"No!" Parker exclaimed, before scratching his head, a bit abashed. "I mean..."

This must be a joke, he thought. Even if... Now that everything was out... Who was this big guy, anyway?! He saw him, like, three times total and the dude had already outed something he was barely discovering in public... What would Leo even say if he learnt that...? Urgh. Talk about a new semester of daring to do stuff...

Parker eventually spoke his mind.

"I need time, alright..? That... That was a lot in a single week."

"Sure, man."

The draconid hunk glanced down at the rat, with an orange glow in his eyes. He smirked with his signature cheeky air.

"I'll keep the place warm in the meantime."

Parker snorted, shook his head and looked away, feeling his face already blushing.

"Oh, shut up."